Blog | Prediq Media

Improving your SEO (search engine optimization) will help you get found
online more easily. Getting found will lead to clicks and more clicks leads to
customer leads. You’ve probably heard that implementing keywords into the
content on your website, blog, and URL are key strategies for improving your
SEO ranking. However, including the wrong keywords or too many keywords can be
just as detrimental.

Although you may not always notice them, keywords play an integral role when
it comes to helping a small business get found online. So let’s get to it by
breaking down the long and short (tail) of it.

Do
Your Own Keyword Research

Keyword research should never be a
one-time commitment, but rather an ever-changing process that involves a
strategy and a comprehensive understanding of your business and your industry.
Including keywords that are specific to your business and industry will help to
ensure that the right customers are being driven to your door rather than just
any customer. Although we want to increase our customer base, we don’t want to
target consumers that may not find the value in our business.

Using
the Right Keywords

Short-tail keywords, or keywords
composed of very generic keywords, might seem appealing because they’re
searched more often than long-tail keywords, however, they’re also a lot more
competitive. So, unless you’re writing content for a large organization, like
Apple or Macy’s, and consumers are likely searching specifically for your
product, you don’t want to enter into a sea of competitors with big brands that
have even bigger pockets.

Long-tail keywords, on the other
hand, may not be as frequently typed into a search engine—think, “Egg” vs.
“Poached Egg with Avocado and Bechemel”. By including more long-tail keywords
into the content on your page, you’ll attract a larger number of customers who
are likely to search for any combination of those long-tail keywords.

Location-based keywords are keywords
that directly relate to your business’s physical location. For example, if your
business is a bakery in a popular neighborhood in Charlotte, NC, you’ll want to
include not only Charlotte, but also the name of that specific neighborhood. By
doing so, you’re more likely to target visitors in your area rather than across
town who may or may not ever make it to your location.

Avoid
Keyword Stuffing

Speaking of misleading customers
that may not find value in your business, adding practically any keyword under
the sun is referred to as keyword stuffing and is largely considered a taboo in
the digital marketing world. Like with any other digital marketing rule of
thumb, less is more and quality will always conquer quantity. Ideally, a
website’s content should include keywords in a natural way. However, by
inputting keywords into a few sentences and repeating them over and over,
you’re stuffing your content with keywords. Even if they’re good keywords, it’s
still too much. Now that you’ve read through these tips, you’re ready to become
an SEO expert too!

As a business, how likely is it that
potential customers will come through your door?
The whole point of an online presence is to entice customers into your store,
your leasing office or your showroom so you can convert them to paying
customers rather than just browsers online.

Further, nothing is more frustrating
as a customer than finding out that you have been given the wrong information
about where a business is located. As a customer, how likely are you to give
this company your business? Not very. In fact, according to Placeable, 73% of consumers
stated that they lose trust in a brand when the online listing shows incorrect
information.

1.
Missing hours of operation information can be a dealbreaker

There are many things that people
look for in listings, whether they are looking at that search engine on a PC or
on a mobile device. The top piece of information that most people look for is
the hours of operation, since their search is likely for a business that they
frequent quite often.

In fact, in a study conducted by local data
aggregator Localeze, hours of operation were noted as the most
helpful feature in selecting a business during local search. 76% of respondent
reporting that they expect this information when searching and 61% believe that
it is a feature that helps them to select a business.

Even if people are new to a
business, it doesn’t give people a good impression if the business hours are
not listed and they don’t know that it’s only open from 11 a.m-6p.m. Tuesday-Saturday
.Imagine that potential customer who is ready to spend their money in store,
but shows up on Monday at 7 p.m. only to find it closed. That customer is
likely going to do another search on a mobile phone to find a different store
and spend their money there.

While most people would assume that
the number one reason people do a search online is for the address or location
of a business, the address is actually behind hours of operation as the second
most desired information. But, of course, the whole point of being in business
is to make money doing what you love or selling what you love. And that happens
by attracting foot traffic and increasing customer base.

It bears repeating that if a
business address is incorrect on listing sites such as Google or Bing, then
customers will not be crossing the threshold. A simple thing such as the wrong
number on a street address, or even the wrong town, can mean that a customer
cannot find you. The US Postal Service relies on a complex system of checks to
verify and standardize addresses, and many of the search engines will default
to the USPS for correct mailing addresses.

What this means for the average new business
owner is that unless a business is in an established location, getting the
correct address on their listing means that both the address from City Hall and
the information on USPS must be consistent. If USPS doesn’t recognize that
address, then a business owner must contact them to verify their new address
and get that information updated on USPS’s online database.

3.
Local searchers are mobile creatures

According to Localeze,
mobile-phone-based searches drive in-store purchases with more than 75% of
searches ending in a purchase—if a business has their listing details correct.
Now if half of the people searching for a business listing on a local search
engine, such as Google Local/Maps, can’t find the store’s business listing
details, then the business is going to lose 100% of their business.

For ease of use for potential
customers, some of those details need to be as readily available as possible in
a mobile-friendly manner. This can be accomplished with a responsive website
that supports cellphone and tablet-specific versions.

4.
Updated, accurate websites still serve as a first impression

At the same time, more than 60% of
searches on PC platforms such as website portals, Internet Yellow Page
directories and local sites have a similar chance of ending in a purchase.
While mobile searches are becoming more of a standard in where a customer
searches, a business owner should not discount the power of a fulsome,
consistent and accurate listing that is reflective of the business website.

Any listing should be linked to the
business’s website and feature the exact same information, but more of it.
While a website should be enough to entice a customer to visit or buy, if those
inconsistencies exist, then trust issues may arise in a business’s practices
before a customer ever crosses their threshold.

5.
Local searchers mix it up across multiple devices, situations and times

People who search for listings are
doing it in many more ways than when the Internet first coalesced into
existence about two decades ago. In that time, we went from working on desktops
to laptops to PDAs to Blackberries to Apples to tablets—and in each iteration,
the methods of search have changed.

However, that has slowed over the
last five years or so as web developers realize that they need to be smarter.
Rather than designing three different sites for three different platforms, they
have created websites that are scalable to the search device. And that has been
helped along by the proliferation of types of devices in use everyday.

According to Pew Research Center,
In 2015, smartphone ownership in America was at 68%, with tablet and computer
ownership at 45%. Statista says that almost
half of American adults use their smartphones the most to search for local
information online, the other half being split between computers (40%) and
tablets (11%). According to Localeze, like the types of
devices used, what we are searching for varies by the time of day and device.
Entertainment is searched for during work hours on computers, restaurants
during evening using phones and health/fitness evening using tablets.

The most important part of those
mobile searches is accuracy. If someone cannot find your business in a local
search or find inaccurate results whilst out and about, then your business has
lost the chance for that browser to become a customer. So having those listings
correct in all of the device formats is a must as we, and our technology,
continue to evolve in the way we interact with local businesses.

6.
Local search results are trusted sources of information

Last but certainly not least is the
fact that local search results are considered the most trustworthy. In a study
by Neustar, it was determined that these searches, such as “used games
Raleigh”, are what people do the most since they put that trust in local
business more than big box, big website stores.

Think about it, would you rather
find a local store where you can get that latest purse in town right now? Or
you can wait a week for delivery, which is four days past the event that you
want it for! Local searches lend themselves to instant gratification and that
interaction between browser and salesperson will convert that browser from
someone who might get just the minimum to a loyal customer who feels like a
million having spent a little more, but getting what they consider to be gold!

Those interactions are what lead
people to local searches and the absolute necessity of getting your listings
correct. Trust leads to loyalty, which leads to more business, which leads to
happy customers and business owners.

And it all starts with that correct
listing in that customer’s local search.

There are many variables to consider when buying a social media account. It’s much like buying a business. Here are the questions you should consider:

Does it generate revenue? If so, how much?

Does this profile send traffic to a specific website listed in the profile? If so, will the website be included?

How did the account get it’s followers? Hopefully they didn’t buy it or grow it through PODS.

Insights- Assuming the account has been converted into a business account, ask the seller to give you full access to the Insights data (activity, audience, content) If they allow you to login their account you may want to check the actual “activity” report which tells you the amount of time they’ve spent on Instagram

Followers- to learn more about their followers and the engagement with the account you can simply do this from your own account. Definitely spend a lot of time analyzing those followers (how many people do they follow vs people follow them, where are the accounts from, how many posts do they have, do those posts get engagement, etc)

Posts- How often do they post? What kind of posts are these? static, video, stories, etc. How many people engage with their posts and what do they say? Are these the same people engaging post after post?

Original Content- Make sure you find out if the images on this account are unique. if these are stock images you’ll want to find out how they obtained it. If they simply downloaded images from Google or some other search engine you won’t know if they infringed on copyrights. If they used something like Canva to create their posts maybe they’ll share that account with you.

Messaging – make sure you assess the messages with followers. The best Influencers are communicating with their audience through the Messages.

Facebook/Messenger- Is this Instagram account connected

Video- How many videos to they have? How many video views does it get? Are they using IGTV? Have they used Live videos with Stories?

Stories- How does their Highlights folder of Stories look? What are the most popular Stories and how many people viewed it?

Paid Ads – Has this account ever promoted any Posts or Stories? If so, what were the results?

3rd Party Platforms- you’ll want to ask them if they’ve used any 3rd party platforms to share, schedule and optimize the posts on their Instagram account. You may want to consider the cost of managing this account through those platforms like Hootsuite, Buffer, Union Metrics and many others.

Legal – before you enter into an agreement to buy this profile make sure you do a Search for the account name on various search engines to make sure there’s nothing hanging out there. If you decide to buy it make sure that the agreement is very specific about who owns the Content created from the accounts inception. What you don’t want to see is this user take the Content and simply start a new account using the same posts (text and images).

It sounds harsh but it’s simply the reality that we all need to accept.

You know the drill—you want pizza so you get on your phone and do a search. Google presents its top 3 local options in the “Snack Pack” and 10 other organic results. You pick one make a call or pop in the pizza joint.

If you’re the local pizza joint, you want and need to appear on the first page for those target keywords. So how do you get them there?

You’ll need to do a local SEO audit to find out. Here’s how to get it done.

Step 1: Audit Keywords

What keywords are you targeting? Step one of your audit should be to determine what you’re currently ranking for and identify any opportunities you might be missing.

For example, if you’re ranking well for ‘Philadelphia Bankruptcy Attorney’ but are nowhere to be found for ‘Philadelphia Bankruptcy Lawyer’, you’ve identified an area to improve.

Start by making a list of services, products, or a page you’d like to drive traffic to. Once you do this you’ll be able to use tools like Keyword Finder to quickly put together a list of high volume local target keywords.

With this list in hand, you can proceed through the rest of your local SEO audit and determine how well these keywords are optimized every step of the way.

Step 2: Audit Your Competition’s Local SEO

Your local SEO audit should include a snooping session to determine your competitor’s SEO status and tactics early on. If you’re located in a highly competitive area where the other top businesses are doing everything right, you need to document what you’re up against.

You don’t need to do a full diagnostic on each competitor, but take a look at the following, and compare that data against yours:

GMB ranking for top keywords

Organic rankings for top keywords

Review quantity and quality

Number of links

Site Speed

Social Stats

In most cases, you should be able to take a look through these items and develop a hypothesis on why your competitor is successful in local SERPs.

Step 3: Audit Google My Business Listing

The 2017 edition of Moz’ Local Search Ranking Factors Survey ranks Google My Business (GMB) as the biggest driver of local SEO success. If you want to appear in Google’s ‘snack pack’, your GMB listing should be robust, and well-optimized with your core target keywords.

Here are some things to look for:

Do you have a GMB listing? If so, is it claimed and verified?

Is all business information present and correct?

Do you have multiple reviews and a high cumulative rating? Are you responding to reviews?

Step 4: Audit Reviews for Quality and Quantity

Reviews pack a ton of clout in both the local ranking and reputation building arenas. Search engines regard them as an authentic measure of a local business’s popularity and viability. Potential customers trust reviews as an accurate gauge for that business’s quality level.

Getting an abundance of positive, glowing and wordy reviews across multiple review platforms like GMB, Facebook, Yelp, and vertical-specific sites like Houzz, Tripadvisor, and Healthgrades helps you win on many levels.

Local SEO Guide notes that Google does pick up on the keywords people use in their reviews:

“At a high level, having a keyword you are trying to rank for, and a mention of a city you are working to rank in, in reviews has a high correlation with high ranking Google My Business results.”

Step 5: Audit Links for Quality and Quantity

“Google is still leaning heavily on links as a primary measure of a business’ authority and prominence, and the local search practitioners that invest time and resources to secure quality links for their clients are reaping the ranking rewards.”

A diverse array of quality links is crucial for any local business’s link portfolio. This means that you’ll need to evaluate your links, looking for links with:

Local content

Industry or vertical topic clusters

High domain authority

Link quality will win over quantity, and quality + quantity will help you dominate the search rankings in your market. On the flip side, if you see a high volume of spammy, off-topic links, you’ll want to make a note of it as a red flag that may be damaging your ability to rank well for your target keywords.

Step 6: Audit Schema-Markup for Local

Schema markup is code that goes on a website to help the search engines return more informative results for users. Schema tells the search engines what your data means, not just what it says.

This is a key way to tell search engines exactly what a given website is about, which will help them serve it up on SERPs for the correct search queries.

One way to check to ensure that your site is using schema markup is to enter your URL in Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool You’ll be able to check to see if all the correct info about your business has been included.

To add Schema markup, if it’s a WordPress website, then “All In One Schema Rich Snippets” is a great plugin. For other websites, this is a good tool to create the code.

Step 7: Audit Local SEO Citations

How frequently is your business mentioned online? Auditing your citations will determine how many online mentions exist of the name, address, and phone number for your business.

It’s important to look into both your structured and unstructured citations. For structured citations, you’ll audit your business listings across the web, looking at social platforms and directories like Yelp, Yellowpages, Facebook, Superpages, and MapQuest. You’ll also need to check to see if their correct business info is listed on the main data aggregators: Axiom, Neustar/Localeze, Factual, and Infogroup.

Next, you’ll need to check your unstructured citations. An unstructured citation can be found on random websites, blogs, event listings, job posting sites, government records or social media mentions. These are unstructured because they could be as simple as a company mention. Usually, these citations don’t include a business’s NAP data.

Step 8: Audit SEO on Main Pages

An audit of the main website pages is probably the most important piece of your entire audit. It doesn’t have to be time-consuming if you have the proper tools though. Screaming Frog is one of many excellent tools that’ll deliver a comprehensive look at your on-page SEO.

With your list of target keywords in hand, you’ll want to run through each page on your spreadsheet looking at the keywords on each page. Specifically, you’ll be looking at:

Page title

Title tags

Sub-headings

Word count

Meta description

Even with just this information, you’ll be well-equipped to analyze how well your pages are optimized for local SEO. Plus, you’ll be able to determine improvements and content gaps that might be missing.

Once you’ve evaluated and recorded the weaknesses in your local SEO, you can make use of a host of top-tier SEO plugins to help you do your work.

Step 9: Audit Image SEO

There are two main components two image optimization for local SEO: keyword usage and how it affects page load speed. You can use ScreamingFrog’s free SEO tool to evaluate both.

Auditing image keyword optimization boils down to evaluating each image’s filename and alt text. Since Google can’t yet tell what visual content an image contains yet, site crawlers rely on things like the filename and alt text to determine what’s being displayed. These are places you should optimize with relevant target keywords.

You can get some big improvements in page load speed when images are optimized to reduce their file size without significantly impacting their visual quality. Using ScreamingFrog, you can take an inventory of all the images on your site and highlight the images that are slowing things down. (There are also image size optimization plugins that resize images automatically going forward.)

Step 10: Check Website Speed

“Google’s latest research shows that the chance of a bounce increases 32% when the page load time goes from 1s to 3s. 1s to 5s increases the chance to 90% and if your site takes up to 10s to load, the chance of a bounce increases to 123%. That’s incredible. For search engines, better results and performance is a sign of a healthy site that pleases customers and therefore should be rewarded with a higher ranking.”

Google PageSpeed Insights Tool performs a near-instant audit of a given URL for both mobile and desktop searches. This will give you a quick way to tell if improvements are needed, and a list of actions to take to improve your website speed.

Step 11: Audit Site Engagement

What visitors do when they discover your business online affects your rankings. In fact, David Mihm argues that,

“Engagement is simply a much more accurate signal of the quality of local businesses than the traditional ranking factors of links, directory citations, and even reviews.”

Metrics like organic search click-through rate (CTR), dwell time, bounce rate, and conversion rate are all ranking factors. You can simply use Google Analytics to examine your engagement metrics and compare them to industry benchmarks.

Step 12: Audit Social Engagement

The truth is that we’re not sure to what extent social signals are baked into Google’s ranking algorithm. However, there’s no doubt that a strong social media presence can significantly boost local SEO efforts.

According to Ron Dod of Search Engine Journal, the bigger and more engaged your audience is, the more they’ll boost rankings:

“The bigger your brand is and the more consumers trust you, the more likely you are to receive a larger share of clicks in Google. Social media can be a great and efficient way to help you build your brand and get in front of people who wouldn’t have otherwise found you.”

Therefore, evaluating your social platforms is an essential part of your local SEO audit:

Final Thoughts

Performing a comprehensive local SEO audit using the 12 steps I’ve outlined is going to dredge up issues. Finding and fixing any SEO optimization issues you discover along the way is also crucial, as is recording your progress to ensure you’re not missing any vital pieces to the local SEO puzzle.

A good way to get started is to use MarketGoo, which automatically scans a website and generates a step-by-step SEO plan to help you increase your website traffic and rankings.

Once you’re ready to get started optimizing your website for SEO, using Boostability’s and SEO Network‘s SEO packages are key ways to power up your local presence. Justcontact us for more info on any of these products.

Want to skip all this work and let the experts handle your local SEO? Contact us today!

Will my listings work?

The effectiveness of a business listing depends on the information’s presence and accuracy. Listings are available through a variety of sources, including search engines, online directories and maps, or social sites. When it comes to listings presence, more is definitely better. Availability on as many sources as possible will create multiple avenues for consumers to find your business. But (and this is a big but), presence only pays off if the listings are accurate. Listings are accurate if the information is correct and consistent across all potential sources. Seems easy enough, right?

Why are listings important?

Listings with good presence and accuracy will undoubtedly pay off for your business. Here’s how:

No more hide and seek

Just as the brightly lit bat signal guides everyone’s favorite caped crusader (that’s right Superman, we said it!), accurate and readily available listings will help guide consumers right to your business’s door steps.

They even have similar shapes. Coincidence? We think not…

If a business’s listing is incorrect or missing, the majority of consumers will feel less confident about the brand, likely leading them to choose a competitor’s product or service. The availability of accurate listings ensures customers are actually able to find brick and mortar locations while they’re open for business. This means money in the business owner’s pocket and, just as importantly, it means the business can be reviewed.

“In my humble opinion…”

An ample review pipeline is an essential tool for developing a business’ online reputation and fostering brand loyalty. Reviews allow customers to communicate their experience with a business to potential buyers, but if consumers can’t find a business listed online, their opinion of it won’t be well-informed. Accurate listings create the opportunity for transparency between businesses and consumers in the form of reviews, and the availability of this information will help increase a business’s visibility.

All aboard the search engine

Consistent, accurate listings and the generation of reviews will directly benefit a business’s visibility by boosting its ranking in local search engine results. Search engine optimization is a complex tool, so why not take advantage of it by simply ensuring your business is listed accurately! Increased visibility means more customers, and what business owner doesn’t want that?

Now what?

This listings low-down provides a basic definition and describes the benefits of business listings. Create listings on sites worth lots of points to improve your listings score. We’ve ranked them by importance using a lot of key factors—how many sites reference them, traffic, demographics and more.

As a business, how likely is it that potential customers will come through your door?
The whole point of an online presence is to entice customers into your store, your leasing office or your showroom so you can convert them to paying customers rather than just browsers online.

Further, nothing is more frustrating as a customer than finding out that you have been given the wrong information about where a business is located. As a customer, how likely are you to give this company your business? Not very. In fact, according to Placeable, 73% of consumers stated that they lose trust in a brand when the online listing shows incorrect information.

1. Missing hours of operation information can be a dealbreaker

There are many things that people look for in listings, whether they are looking at that search engine on a PC or on a mobile device. The top piece of information that most people look for is the hours of operation, since their search is likely for a business that they frequent quite often.

In fact, in a study conducted by local data aggregator Localeze, hours of operation were noted as the most helpful feature in selecting a business during local search. 76% of respondent reporting that they expect this information when searching and 61% believe that it is a feature that helps them to select a business.

Even if people are new to a business, it doesn’t give people a good impression if the business hours are not listed and they don’t know that it’s only open from 11 a.m-6p.m. Tuesday-Saturday .Imagine that potential customer who is ready to spend their money in store, but shows up on Monday at 7 p.m. only to find it closed. That customer is likely going to do another search on a mobile phone to find a different store and spend their money there.

While most people would assume that the number one reason people do a search online is for the address or location of a business, the address is actually behind hours of operation as the second most desired information. But, of course, the whole point of being in business is to make money doing what you love or selling what you love. And that happens by attracting foot traffic and increasing customer base.

It bears repeating that if a business address is incorrect on listing sites such as Google or Bing, then customers will not be crossing the threshold. A simple thing such as the wrong number on a street address, or even the wrong town, can mean that a customer cannot find you. The US Postal Service relies on a complex system of checks to verify and standardize addresses, and many of the search engines will default to the USPS for correct mailing addresses.

What this means for the average new business owner is that unless a business is in an established location, getting the correct address on their listing means that both the address from City Hall and the information on USPS must be consistent. If USPS doesn’t recognize that address, then a business owner must contact them to verify their new address and get that information updated on USPS’s online database.

3. Local searchers are mobile creatures

According to Localeze, mobile-phone-based searches drive in-store purchases with more than 75% of searches ending in a purchase—if a business has their listing details correct. Now if half of the people searching for a business listing on a local search engine, such as Google Local/Maps, can’t find the store’s business listing details, then the business is going to lose 100% of their business.

For ease of use for potential customers, some of those details need to be as readily available as possible in a mobile-friendly manner. This can be accomplished with a responsive website that supports cellphone and tablet-specific versions.

4. Updated, accurate websites still serve as a first impression

At the same time, more than 60% of searches on PC platforms such as website portals, Internet Yellow Page directories and local sites have a similar chance of ending in a purchase. While mobile searches are becoming more of a standard in where a customer searches, a business owner should not discount the power of a fulsome, consistent and accurate listing that is reflective of the business website.

Any listing should be linked to the business’s website and feature the exact same information, but more of it. While a website should be enough to entice a customer to visit or buy, if those inconsistencies exist, then trust issues may arise in a business’s practices before a customer ever crosses their threshold.

5. Local searchers mix it up across multiple devices, situations and times

People who search for listings are doing it in many more ways than when the Internet first coalesced into existence about two decades ago. In that time, we went from working on desktops to laptops to PDAs to Blackberries to Apples to tablets—and in each iteration, the methods of search have changed.

However, that has slowed over the last five years or so as web developers realize that they need to be smarter. Rather than designing three different sites for three different platforms, they have created websites that are scalable to the search device. And that has been helped along by the proliferation of types of devices in use everyday.

According to Pew Research Center, In 2015, smartphone ownership in America was at 68%, with tablet and computer ownership at 45%. Statista says that almost half of American adults use their smartphones the most to search for local information online, the other half being split between computers (40%) and tablets (11%). According to Localeze, like the types of devices used, what we are searching for varies by the time of day and device. Entertainment is searched for during work hours on computers, restaurants during evening using phones and health/fitness evening using tablets.

The most important part of those mobile searches is accuracy. If someone cannot find your business in a local search or find inaccurate results whilst out and about, then your business has lost the chance for that browser to become a customer. So having those listings correct in all of the device formats is a must as we, and our technology, continue to evolve in the way we interact with local businesses.

6. Local search results are trusted sources of information

Last but certainly not least is the fact that local search results are considered the most trustworthy. In a study by Neustar, it was determined that these searches, such as “used games Raleigh”, are what people do the most since they put that trust in local business more than big box, big website stores.

Think about it, would you rather find a local store where you can get that latest purse in town right now? Or you can wait a week for delivery, which is four days past the event that you want it for! Local searches lend themselves to instant gratification and that interaction between browser and salesperson will convert that browser from someone who might get just the minimum to a loyal customer who feels like a million having spent a little more, but getting what they consider to be gold!

Those interactions are what lead people to local searches and the absolute necessity of getting your listings correct. Trust leads to loyalty, which leads to more business, which leads to happy customers and business owners.

And it all starts with that correct listing in that customer’s local search.

Welcome to the most comprehensive collection of design, functionality and content stats for websites.

Imagine a world where a single, gigantic shopping mall hosted a store for every business across the globe. It’s easy to imagine that any business that doesn’t have a store in this mall may as well not exist, as every consumer looking to shop would come to the mall to find what they need. If a business was nowhere to be found in this mall, the consumer would shop at one of the other infinite stores. Simple solution: all businesses need a store. However, simply having a store in the mall is not enough. Each store needs visible signage spread all throughout the mall to entice consumers, and businesses need to be accurately listed in the mall directories so shoppers know they exist. The more often a business and products/services are displayed and mentioned around the shopping mall, the easier it is for the shoppers to locate the store. Another simple solution: businesses need visible signage, and accurate listings in the mall directories. But, again, there’s more to attracting customers than just having pretty signs, and the store itself has to provide value, too. Once the consumer walks through the door, the look, feel and contents of a store have to be good enough to keep customers from turning around and walking out again.

Sounds complicated, doesn’t it? Good thing this shopping mall doesn’t exist, right? Wrong. The thing is, this shopping mall exists. It’s called the Internet. The store is your website. Everything that holds true for stores in our fantasy shopping mall is true for businesses on the internet.
Accurate signs and listings in the appropriate directories will get a business found, but it’s the business’s website that’s going to keep consumers interested. With over half of businesses having websites, businesses who want to experience success need to know how to stand out.

These stats for websites illustrate why it’s essential to build the best store in the mall, and how to keep traffic and conversion rates on the rise.

General

1. The average revenue for a small business is $3.6 million, but the average revenue for a small business with a website is $5.03 million
2. 53% of small businesses had websites in 2014
3. 67% of businesses with annual sales of $1,000,000 – $2,490,000 have websites

Functionality

4. 64% of shoppers who had a poor experience with their site visit will shop somewhere else next time
5. 39% of consumers will stop engaging with content if the images won’t load
6. 39% of consumers give up on content when it takes too long to load
7. 47% of consumers expect a page to load in 2 seconds or less
8. 23% of online shoppers will stop shopping if page loads are too slow, while 14% of online shoppers will take their business to another site
9. More than half (52%) of online shoppers say that quick page loading times are important for their loyalty to a site
10. Delays at peak traffic times made more than 75% of online consumers abandon a site for a competitor’s
11. A one second delay in website loading time can lead to a 7% loss in conversion
12. Increasing your site’s loading speed from 8 seconds to 2 seconds can boost conversion rate by 74%
13. A site that takes 6 seconds to load will have a 50% loss in conversion
14. 40% of consumers will abandon a website that takes longer than 3 seconds to load
15. 75% of online consumers will use the “back” button before a slow page fully loads
16. 51% of American online shoppers say that a slow loading time is the top reason they abandon a purchase
17. Slow websites cost retailers $2.6 billion in lost sales each year

Design

18. 38% of consumers will stop engaging with content that is unattractive in imagery or layout
19. A consumer’s first-impression of a website is 94% design-related
20. Website credibility is judged 75% on the site’s overall design
21. 85% of consumers will abandon a site due to poor design
22. Given 15 minutes, 66% of consumers would prefer consuming content that is beautifully designed than something simple
23. It takes consumers 0.05 seconds to form an opinion about your website, so use that time wisely!
24. The right colors increase brand recognition by 80%
25. 52% of consumers states “aesthetics” as the main reason why they would not return to a site

Devices

26. 90% of consumers use multiple devices sequentially
27. Not only are 97% of millennials mobile users, but 20% don’t use desktop at all
28. 61% of digital media time is spent on mobile, with only 39% on desktop
29. 85% of adult consumers believe that a company’s mobile site should be good or better than the desktop version
30. 65% of customers develop a better opinion of brands, services and products when they have a great mobile experience
31. 88% of consumers prefer to shop with retailers that deliver connected cross-channel experiences
32. If consumers have a good experience on your mobile site, they are 59% more likely to make a purchase
33. 67% of online shoppers are more likely to buy from a site that is compatible with mobile devices
34. Mobile-commerce (m-commerce) saw an annual growth of 56% in 2015, while desktop e-commerce only saw an increase of 8%
35. 50% of online shopping is done on a mobile device
36. Almost 70% of tablet users make a purchase on their device every month
37. Over 20% of tablet owners admit to shopping less in real life since they purchased their device
38. While 50% of consumers will switch devices if they are having trouble interacting with the content on a site, 33% will stop engaging entirely
39. 62% of companies that designed a site specifically for mobile experienced an increase in sales

Content

40. 47% of consumers check the products/services pages of a website first
41. 65% of consumers want to see contact information on the site’s home page
42. 44% of consumers left the website because there was no contact information
43. Over half of consumers want to see an “about us” section on a company’s home page
44. 54% of consumers find that a lack of contact information available on a vendor’s site reduces the vendor’s credibility
45. In a study of 200 small business websites, 70% did not display clear calls-to-action
46. TL;DR! 38% of consumers will stop engaging if the content is too long
47. 50% of sales are lost because consumers can’t find the content they’re looking for
48. 46% of consumers say that the most annoying thing about a website is the lack of message (unable to tell what the company does)
49. Keep it down! 33% of consumers said that video/audio that plays automatically on a website annoyed them or caused them to leave
50. 69% of consumers reported that having too many form fields deterred them from filling out a contact form
51. 70% of viewers look at lists with bullets, while only 55% look at lists without
52. Websites that have 51-100 pages generate 48% more traffic than website with 50 pages or less
53. 69% of North American marketers say that personalized and dynamic content is important for their business’s website
54. 20% of consumers think that a blog helps establish a company’s credibility
55. B2B companies that blog once/twice a month generate 70% more leads than companies that don’t blog at all

The world has gone digital, and business has followed. It’s easier to go where your audience is than to bring them to your door, and the biggest audience lives online. Carving out your own corner of digital space with a killer website is the first step to dominating the online world, and these stats for websites can be your guide.

Instagram has entered the territory of “must” rather than “nice-to-have” when it comes to social marketing for businesses. There are a few key reasons why every business should have an Instagram account, and why you’re going to be pretty left out if you don’t get on this social platform.

1. Skyrocket Your Engagement

The data shows that Instagram is the #1 platform for getting post engagement.

That means that if you want to establish a relationship with your client base (which you do), then you’re going to need that post engagement that only Instagram can provide.

But let’s back it up fora second…

It’s an interesting time to be involved in social media marketing… Facebook is facing major allegations, and as a result—people are doing crazy things like starting movements to delete their Facebook accounts… (For my sake, and the sake of your distant relatives, please do not delete your facebook). As much as internet trolls might have you think that it’s the social media Armageddon, I assure you that life will go on.

It might be looking a little overcast in the internet landscape, but before we pack our bags —there’s still some hope. Facebook’s more charismatic and adopted little brother (Instagram) still has users entranced with its purity and boasts a pristine opportunity for brands who are ready to stir up the marketing pot.

Now, Instagram is the #1 platform for post engagement because its focus on visual content creates a very unique space for brands to interact with others—and if you’re a skeptic, the numbers don’t lie. According to a study conducted by Forrester, Facebook and Twitter organic post engagement levels are currently less than 0.1%. In comparison, the millennial-centric Instagram boasts regular engagement at 4% for brands. (That’s 40x better btw).

2. Grow Your Following with Ease

80 percent of Instagram accounts already follow a business on Instagram, and 65% of top-performing posts feature products. The translation here is obvious, Instagrammers want to see branded content, and they want to connect with brands.

Add the engagement levels for brands (4%) that we just saw and we have the optimal landscape for growing your branded following on this platform.

3. Generate Leads

Instagram is a tool for lead generation.

We know that social media strongly influences purchase decisions, even if that is at the subconscious level of the consumer decision-making process.

It’s 2018, and our favorite lead generation tool (Facebook) is making algorithm changes that are making it harder for brands to get heard. With engagement rates already resting around the 0.1% mark, it just might be the ideal time to expand your reach to include some Instagram marketing.

With Instagram, 60% of users have first heard of a product or service through the platform, and over 120 million Instagram users visited a website, got directions, or called/emailed/direct messaged a business as a result of their engagement with the platform (sproutsocial). That means that 120 million Instagrammers have been lead to a business through the platform.

You can easily use Instagram to generate new business and sales with strategic content and links in your bio, as well as reach new targeted and engaged audiences through paid ad campaigns through the Facebook ad platform.

4. Stay On Top of “Instagram Reviews”

A little-known fact is that when an Instagram user posts something on Instagram and uses a location tag, this tag isn’t owned or regulated by the business that owns the physical location. All location tags on Instagram, or “Instagram Geotags”,” are tied to a separate public account that Instagram will store posts under.

For businesses, this is a blessing and a curse.

Best Case Scenario:

Say you own a local restaurant and you have numerous dedicated and consistent customers who love to post at your restaurant and have nothing but glowing words to accompany beautiful pictures of your space. When others look at your location on Instagram, this is what they see, and they are that much more likely to convert and become loyal customers as well.

Worst Case Scenario:

You own the same local restaurant, but one dissatisfied customer took it upon themselves to post a picture of your front door exclaiming their disgust with the service that they received. This post has lingered on the web and likely dissuaded other customers from posting to the location, and has resulted in the loss of unknown amounts of revenue through prospects who steered away from your business as a result.

Although you have no control over the things that users might be saying about your brand (much like standard reviews), you can still help mitigate some possible damages by having a branded Instagram account and monitoring the posts on your location. Much like negative reviews left on other review platforms, by responding to negative Instagram posts, you are much more likely to prevent harm to your reputation.

5. Don’t Get Left Behind

As of 2017, nearly 71% of businesses in the United States were already using Instagram. The release of Instagram business profiles and the ability to to run ads/analytics with ease have been large factors in driving the Instagram growth movement.

Source: eMarketer

You may notice that this looks like an exponential growth graph, and that’s probably because it is. Fortunately for you, just because 71% of these businesses are using Instagram doesn’t mean that these businesses are using it to its full potential.

We can make a pretty good estimate as to where this usage rate is going to reside by the end of 2018, so don’t get left behind.

Don’t wait, get started on your Instagram strategy today to generate new leads, amplify your brand, and build new business!

Online Reviews are an important piece of the pie when it comes to your online reputation. Most of our clients will not give Reviews because of the nature of our business. They hire us to do their marketing and they don’t want their competitor’s to discover who’s doing their digital marketing. We’ve managed to get about 50 clients to give us Reviews on Facebook, Google, Yelp and a few other platforms. Most businesses do not have this challenge so we highly recommend that you find ways to encourage your customers to give you reviews. Just think of the last time you were thinking of buying a product, going to a new restaurant, making an appointment to a new doctor, hiring a contractor, etc. The first thing most consumers do is go on their smartphones and search for the companies information then they look for reviews about that company. Whether they’re on Facebook, Yelp or Google it doesn’t matter. The important thing is that you have some reviews (hopefully positive reviews). There’s no doubt your business will get a bad review from time to time. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t participate in managing your online reputation.

As a matter of fact it’s quite the opposite. You have to manage the activity by having someone login everyday. It takes 1 minute to do this. You login and see if there are any new reviews. If it’s a good review simply thank the customer and move on. If it’s a bad review you should bring it to the team and discuss an appropriate response. This should be taken very serious. A business can slowly lose it’s customers and ruin their reputation by having a careless attitude about online reviews. Technology, smartphones and the internet are not going away and neither are reviews or the voice of customer. It’s time you commit to a strategy for managing your reviews. This is no small task and should be done by a professional or someone who is trained on your team. Here’s a presentation I did not too long ago to help you take a deeper dive into the stats and reasons why you should care about online reviews.

The question we always get about online reputation is “how much does it cost”? The answer is it varies.

If a business gets 5-10 reviews per month and needs ongoing maintenance you should be paying between $200-300. This would include managing on 5 platforms. For example, if you’re a Home Improvement Contractor we would manage Google Reviews, Facebook Reviews, Yelp Reviews, Angie’s List and Houzz. If you’re a Doctor we would manage Healthgrades, Vitals, Google Reviews, Facebook Reviews and Yelp Reviews. Each industry has its’ own platforms and marketplaces that need to be managed.

On the other hand if you’re an eCommerce business or a Retail business and you get 50-100 reviews per month you may be paying $800-1000 per month. This is not an expense but rather an investment to secure your future sales. Anyone who thinks different is making a mistake. The challenge is that this is just one piece of the Digital Marketing puzzle. But I would say that it’s 1 of the top 5 most important things you could be doing. Instead of spending time creating posts on Social Media spend time managing your Reviews.

If you’re a small business these are the 5 most important things you need to be doing for your online presence in 2018 along with the benefit.

Manage and optimize your Website [BENEFIT: Owned Media, you control it and it’s there forever]

Create quality Content on a regular basis [BENEFIT: IncreaseSEO or Search Engine Optimization will lead to more clicks and leads]

Create Videos [BENEFIT: Again this is owned media and content that you control, you’ll also benefit from SEO because of Youtube and your customers and prospects will stay engaged with your company longer. If the videos are relevant to their needs they’ll keep coming back.]

Create a Digital Marketing Strategy [BENEFIT: Make sure you understand your goals and objectives. Do your Keyword Research, Competitive Analysis and figure out your strategy for each Quarter. The benefit is that you’ll have everything organized in a document that includes timelines, who’s doing what on your team and what the KPI’s or outcomes will be. Make sure you have your Google Analytics or some other form of measuring the results. I promise you that if you’re committed, get organized and stay the course you’ll see your traffic grow. This will lead to more clicks, leads and sales.